Malaysia to banish 20 players in graft fight

Malaysia to banish 20 players in graft fight

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia will arrest and banish 20
players and two coaches in the latest move against soccer
corruption, according to reports yesterday.

And officials are still deciding whether to carry out a threat
to exclude Singapore from Malaysian league matches for the new
season starting in April.

The national Bernama news agency quoted Malaysian Deputy Home
Minister, Megat Junid Megat Ayob, as saying that warrants for the
arrests of non-Moslem players will be issued this week while
those against Moslem players would be issued after the end of the
Ramadan, or Moslem fasting month, in March.

He said Malaysian police would detain the players for 14 days
before banishing them. Under the country's Restricted Residence
Act, Malaysia's Home Minister is empowered to banish individuals
to a remote district of the country for up to two years.

Those banished will be placed under police supervision and
must stay indoors from dusk to dawn -- reporting to police daily.

Malaysia has already detained 68 players, two coaches and six
bookmakers for questioning since launching a major offensive
against corruption in the sport late last year.

Three of the bookmakers have been exiled to remote districts
under the Restricted Residence Act, which was originally drafted
to deal with Chinese triad gangs and secret societies.

Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, Deputy President of the
Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), said the crackdown was
only the beginning of the country's war on soccer corruption.

"We have to see how effective this line of action is in one or
two year's time," he said.

Tengku Abdullah also said on Sunday that Malaysia was still
debating whether to exclude Singapore.

Malaysia has previously accused the neighboring republic of
not doing enough to fight soccer corruption and said that
Singapore had to give documentary proof that it had taken steps
to clean up its act before the start of the season.

"Reports from police investigations have shown that most of
the malpractice was done during games with Singapore," added
Tengku Abdullah.

In Singapore, it was reported on Friday that anti-corruption
officers had confiscated the passport of a member of the national
soccer team, Abbas Saad, a 26-year-old midfielder from Australia.

Abbas's passport was impounded after 48 hours of interrogation
into the alleged fixing of matches in the Malaysian premier
league and Malaysian Cup competitions last year.